Barsebäck

It’s a bit unfair, but there’s no getting around it: Barsebäck is best known as the site of Skåne’s only nuclear power plant.

It’s a bit unfair, but there’s no getting around it: Barsebäck is best known as the site of Skåne’s only nuclear power plant. It’s not been in operation for a long time… though after it was first decommissioned around the turn of the century, various plans were put forward for getting it back in action, none of which resulted in any new atomic joules being pumped into the Skånian grid. (However, the real center of this story is Staffanstorp, so that’s where we’ve told it).

While it’s wise to maintain a healthy respect and caution around radioactivity, we are assured by politicians and scientists alike that there is no significant risk in being near the old power plant, which still stands at the shoreline, so long as you don’t try to go beyond the fences—a popular if foolish pastime for local adolescents who feel the need to prove themselves brave (or stupid). That means that you are both free and safe to wander the surrounding area, which is classic västkust Skåne, and well worth the visit.

If you arrive here on your way up the coast from the flexmarks of Lomma toward Helsingborg, you can take a walk along the strandpromenad between Löddesborg castle to Barsebäck harbour. If you do, you will see a colourful wall right after you pass Salviken; this is where fishing enthusiasts from all over Scandinavia gather during the summer, in hope of catching the thick-lip grey mullet. Although no longer as common as during the heyday of the Barsebäck reactor (which used to warm the water in a manner most congenial to the mullet), there’s still a decent chance of hooking this silvery and elusive fish. Should you bring one to shore, you earn not only some serious angling notoriety, but also the privilege of writing the catch date, the fish’s weight, and your name on the wall!

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